What Is The Intention-Action Gap?
“Just Do It”
We've all been there.
You set out with the best intentions – perhaps planning to walk each morning, cut out that extra bag of salt and vinegar crisps, or save a chunk of your hard-earned cash.
But somehow, you find yourself on the sofa, indulging in some Oreos and entering your card details for another shiny new purchase.
The good news is you’re not alone, and what you've just experienced is a classic case of the ‘intention-action gap’, a concept at the heart of behavioural science.
Essentially, it's that annoying divide between what you want to do … and what you end up doing.
For example, you have this noble plan to exercise daily, but when the time comes, the lure of five more minutes in bed to watch one more Netflix episode wins.
Or you've promised yourself a healthy diet, but there you are, enjoying a slice of cheesecake.
And what about the new financial discipline you had planned? It took a backseat when you saw those new trainers calling your name from the web page.
So, what's the story with the intention-action gap?
It turns out that our brains have a canny knack for prioritising the present over the future. Instant gratifications seem more appealing than future intentions.
This phenomenon is known as ‘temporal discounting’.
Moreover, our environment and the people around us significantly shape our decisions.
For example, having chocolate bars in the cupboard at home makes you much more likely to indulge than if you don’t let them into your house in the first place. Similarly, having a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter is a nudge to eat some.
Your friends and colleagues also influence your behaviour in ways you might not realise.
The motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously quipped, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with."
It doesn’t matter if the number is accurate. The sentiment is correct.
Given the above, it's no surprise that even the best-laid plans crumble in the face of tempting surroundings and peer influence.
And let's not forget how challenging it is to kickstart or break a habit.
It can be a real uphill battle; willpower will only get you so far.
So what can you do?
While there's no magic wand to wave away this intention-action gap, knowing it exists helps us find ways to bridge it.
One approach is to make your desired behaviour easy to achieve or unforgettable in your daily routine. To use a personal finance example, you could set up a direct debit for your savings or investment account.
If it’s more exercise you want to do, set out your gym clothes by your bed the night before.
Alternatively, you could make the price of not doing it high. This is the idea behind apps like Stickk.com. If you fail to do what you promised, you must pay.
Understanding the intention-action gap can be a game-changer, guiding you towards smarter decisions and where you can design a world where your intentions evolve into actions.
If you want to learn more about the quirks of human behaviour, you will enjoy our Behavioural Economics course, certified by Ogilvy and featuring the enigmatic TED speaker Rory Sutherland.
